1 What the Board and the Senior Civil Service can do to help develop
the REFIT partnership. Some suggestions will be presented at the Board.

Timing

2 ongoing

Recommendation

3 The Board is asked to note issues raised in this mornings
presentation and agree what what they and the SCS can do next.

Background

4 The REFIT contract covers both the provision of both IT services
and business consultancy. It is funded as a Private Finance Initiative deal, but requires
more than being managed as a normal commercial relationship.

5 To get the best from this deal, a partnership approach is integral
to the contract. It is expected that establishing a partnership:

i. will aid the achievement of HSE's business objectives;

ii. that it will be built on trust, openness and honesty;

iii. that it will achieve more by working together than either party
could achieve on their own;

iv. that it will be a driving force for business change throughout
the life of the partnership;

v. that it will ensure risk and reward are shared appropriately;

vi. and that it provides vision and leadership.

6 Lessons learned from other Departments and local authorities who
have similar agreements indicate that these benefits do not come straight away, and need
working at.1 The Partnership Steering Group (PSG), chaired by the
Director General, is already sponsoring a project which will develop most of the
supporting mechanisms for the partnership, and is working on:

i. the definition of the partnership; the values and principles of
the partnership;

ii. the groups that make up the Partnership Forum;

iii. and the proposals for communications; skills development; and a
framework for measuring the health of the partnership.

7 In the meantime, the PSG recognises the need to engage better and
sooner with the HSE Board and the Senior Civil Service

Argument

8 In the early days of the REFIT service, there are examples of HSE
and REFIT working together on business and IT requirements: support for scientific
computing; supporting HSE businesses as they migrate from Lotus Smartsuite to Microsoft
Office; and supporting the review of science and technology arrangements. These are
described in information notes, which can be used to explain the range of activities
supported under the REFIT contract.

9 Further engagement is required so that the Board and the SCS know
what they can do to support and promote partnership, and benefit from it.

10 Initial communications have had a mixed reception. We need to go
beyond the proselytizing, to a demonstration of what is achievable based on evidence. In
this, the D/Ds have a role to play. While it is helpful to know what D/Ds are going to do
to support the development of the partnership, it would be more helpful in the Board
meeting to identify what else the Board and the SCS need to know to take plans forward.

Consultation

11 The partnership Steering Group and the project user group have
contributed ideas and concerns to the Partnership in Action project.

Action

12 The Board is asked to note issues raised in this mornings
presentation and agree what what they and the SCS can do next.